It hasn’t even delivered yet, I can just feel it in my bones, this self-evident truth was revealed to me in a dream
from a couple of hours ago, more work here: https://instagram.com/offgramercy
Bros be using a $3000 wildlife bird photography lens to shoot street. Have some shame and harass your subjects with a 28/35mm fixed lens (and a loud flash) like a real man, jesus fucking christ we used to be a proper country
What about people who crop? What about people who don’t post the full contact sheet? Where do medium format shooters fit in? I’m confused, can someone explain the moral superiority hierarchy here?
OMG okay so like, SOME of you probably know me as “that guy who won’t shut up about how this sub is literally just a giant appreciation circle,” and honestly? FINE. Whatever. I don’t even care anymore (I absolutely do).
So I ONLY ended up here because r/photographycirclejerk kept getting tagged everywhere on the Fuji and Leica subs, and I was like, “Uhhh why is everyone tagging this weirdly wholesome sub??” And since NO ONE ever explains ANYTHING on Reddit, I had to figure it out myself like some kind of detective or emotionally available adult or something.
And then I clicked in and OH. MY. GOSH. It’s literally just crossposts. Like, 99% crossposts. And everyone is just piling onto the original posters with encouragement like it’s some kind of community service. I thought circle jerk subs were supposed to be goofy little inside-joke places where people make fun of stereotypes, not actual PEOPLE by telling them their photos are kinda sick and their enthusiasm is valid. But apparently not??? Apparently we’re just supportive now???
So THEN I was like, “Okay, maybe I’m missing something,” so I made a post in the Fujifilm sub just to see what would happen. AND GUESS WHAT. It got crossposted here THREE TIMES in like two minutes. I swear I blinked and suddenly my post was everywhere. And the SAME people were commenting the SAME nice things in every version like they were copy-pasting their emotional intelligence.
And then I checked their profiles and realized they were ALSO going into the original subs and being genuinely helpful there too. Like… hello??? Isn’t that literally kindness??? Isn’t that like, against the rules of the entire website???
At this point I was like, okay, this is not “haha silly satire,” this is “I’m actually happy for strangers on the internet because my life has meaning.” So I looked at other circle jerk subs and GUESS WHAT AGAIN: most of them have rules against crossposting. Because it gets TOO WHOLESOME. Because it stops being about tropes and starts being about REAL PEOPLE. Like that Leica Chicago store opening post — people were zooming in on random attendees’ faces and saying they looked stylish and seemed excited to be there. Like… those are ACTUAL HUMANS. They have families. They have jobs. They probably have pets. Why are we being so emotionally generous.
And don’t even get me started on how repetitive everything is here. Sometimes the same post gets crossposted like five times and everyone just keeps complimenting it like it’s brand new. It’s not even satire at that point, it’s just… tender. And kinda beautiful. And honestly? It feels like healing. Like actual healing, not the “I bought another camera body and called it therapy” kind.
Meanwhile, other photography circle jerks like r/analogcirclejerk are just people making fun of themselves with their own photos and gear. You know, ACTUAL self-deprecating humor. Not “let’s uplift random strangers because we’re bored.”
So yeah, I’m pretty sure the whole “no rules except be stupid nice” thing has turned this place into a magnet for people who actually WANT to be nice. And now the line between satire and actual community care is like… not even a line anymore. It’s just a smudge. A warm smudge. A softly diffused smudge shot wide open on a vintage lens. And everyone’s pretending it’s normal.
I’m not trying to start a war or whatever, I just want people to maybe THINK for like two seconds about how their actions might actually be making real people feel seen. Because right now it feels like this sub is way less “haha funny joke” and way more “I’m sharing my personal growth with strangers.”